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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 3642374, member: 44316&quot;]As always, &quot;It depends.&quot;&nbsp; Some types almost never have flan cracks (e.g. denarii of Maxminus Thrax) and then they would be a big negative -- mostly because it would be so easy to get one without a crack. On the other hand, late Roman siliquae often have flan cracks and then small ones are almost expected, but big ones (which are pretty common) threaten the flan make it possible it will break.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]977872[/ATTACH]That is a pretty bad crack, but I think is still worth at least half what it would be worth without it. I could not say that about a sestertius--but then sestertii almost never have cracks that bad.</p><p><br /></p><p>Desirability in ancients is not determined by grade as much as it is &quot;eye appeal&quot; (You can confirm this in many old CT threads). So, the real question is, &quot;How much does a crack affect eye-appeal?&quot;&nbsp; Cracks do draw the eye--that is a negative. If you can&#039;t look past the crack and see the coin for its other virtues, pass on it.</p><p><br /></p><p>A crack through the face of the emperor can&#039;t be ignored, so it can decrease the value a lot. If you can see the coin and ignore the crack, then don&#039;t expect it to be sold at a big discount. But, look at Terence&#039;s Ptolemy tetradrachm (one post above) and that crack hardly matters. The power of the portrait gives it great eye-appeal anyway. The decrease in price is minimal. </p><p><br /></p><p>With US coins the grade almost determines price, and every type of detraction is considered in the grade. But flan cracks don&#039;t fit into that scheme. Fortunately, those of us who collect ancients are not forced to value ancients with a gray sheet.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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